


For the Good of Us All

by toomanysunkenships



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, An attempt at a slow burn, And severus, Bamf!Bellatrix, But dont have sex, M/M, Marauders are there, Meddling with time is tricky business, Misuse of howlers, Rewrite, Sirius and Harry date, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-12 20:11:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13554714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toomanysunkenships/pseuds/toomanysunkenships
Summary: Hermione has finally managed to corner Harry and convince him to listen to her plan."Harry, going back in time to save Tom Riddle before the monster envelops the man is the best plan we have. It's for the good of us all."This is a rewrite two years later. I lost my notebook with my prewritten stuff for the drarry fic so I'll do this while I look.





	For the Good of Us All

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [For the Good of Us All](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3805954) by [toomanysunkenships](https://archiveofourown.org/users/toomanysunkenships/pseuds/toomanysunkenships). 



-Harry-

“Harry, I know it’s mad, but..” Hermione whispers.

“I can’t do it, Hermione!” I say.

“Shh! I’ve been researching this spell for around a month and I think it’s safe,” she says quietly.

“Oh, brilliant, you _think_ it’s safe,” I say.

She shushes me again and looks around the hallway before beginning another tirade on the importance of following her plan. I frown and cast a Muffliato.

“Harry, it reverses time. It isn’t going to harm you, but not many people have ever done it before. There isn’t concrete evidence, but this is the best way. I found that if you’re careful and don't erase yourself then you can change the future without ruining the present or future,” she says.

I swallow nervously. I don't understand how this can work. And if it does work-

“How is that possible? You’ve always said that messing with time is tricky,” I say.

“It _is_ tricky. That’s why I waited until I was sure,” Hermione says, “Let it suffice to say that you could go back and-”

“Save Dumbledore? My parents?” I ask with excitement.

“Save _everyone_ , Harry. If you could encourage Tom Riddle to never become You-Know-Who, if we do this right then you could save everyone, including him,” she says.

“Why would I want to save that monster?” I ask, "Why would you want me to? Surely after everything he's done, Hermione. And you- in the most danger after me."

“He had to be a person once. Go back to the orphanage that you told me about. Befriend him. Kill him if you must, but remember Harry that if you do it before he’s done anything, before the monster envelops the man, it makes you no better than him,” she says.

Of course I am the only one who can do this. _Me_. It always falls to me. Always. I have to become friends with Tom Riddle? That’s brilliant. I suppose it couldn’t be someone else’s turn to ‘save everyone.’ No, never. It always must be me. It doesn't seem fair. Rather, it isn't fair, but I'm not used to things being that way. How can I do this?

If he'd waited, if he'd thought...if the Lestranges had found us first.. if Remus hadn't been doubted and Sirius hadn't been rejected then maybe it wouldn't have been me.

“Hermione, why are you suggesting this? You usually tell me to listen to Dumbledore,” I say.

Hermione bites her lip. I know that it must be difficult for her to defy authority, and because of that I know that this alternative plan must be tremendously better than the one we have now. Though, we don’t really have a plan now even though we sort of do at the same time. If only Dumbledore had told us more than he did, gave us any reason at all to follow his plan over this one. The one that sounds like it could actually work.

“Dumbledore isn’t here anymore to advise us and I think we should try this before we try his plan,” she finally says.

“How am I supposed to get back if I fail?” I ask, “I suppose you’ve researched that too?”

“Yes, but you can’t keep going back and forth. You get one shot and then if you want to come back, if you’re really done there, then you can come back. But that will be the end, Harry. You can’t come back after he’s defeated because a different version of you will take your place. But if you do fail to defeat him, or bring him to your side.. you say ‘Reditum’ and you find me. We’ll go Horcrux hunting, but as a last resort,” she says.

I walk towards the back of the Astronomy Tower. Hermione grabs me in a fierce hug.

“Um, I guess this is goodbye,” I say.

“Goodbye, Harry. I’ll, well… I will. I want you to know that if you don’t come back, and you live out your life, that even though I’ll forget you I don’t want to. I love you, Harry, and I’m going to miss you every single day until magic fixes the paradox by erasing my memories. If you don’t come back,”

I cut her off with a rough hug.

“I’ll never forget you, Hermione. I’m sorry that the war and Voldemort took away our ability to stay friends,” I say and then I whisper the spell with my back turned to her and my eyes closed to avoid the tears streaming down her face that I just can’t bear to see.

* * *

 

I open my eyes to find myself in front of a place I've seen before. This must be the orphanage Dumbledore showed me. I had only seen the inside. Rain drips down my glasses and onto my cheeks. It is as if the world is crying in my place, because I cannot afford to feel my pain. I don't know if Vol- if Tom Riddle mastered Legilimency at this point. It wouldn't make any sense for him to but- I think of him talking to snakes and speaking of being able to "do things". And meddling with time does unexpected things. He may be able to. If he can't, it's still best to get in the habit of keeping my thoughts shielded and my emotions neutral. 

I look downwards to shake my waterlogged hair from my eyes and catch sight of myself in a puddle. I peer at my reflection. I look so young. My scars have disappeared. Not the one that matters, not the one that marked me for this task. 

I must be 10 or 11, because I imagine a spell complex enough to alter my age would pick one that would help me. I'm scrawny and I look underfed. Perhaps it twists with time in more ways than I thought. 

Or maybe it only put me back to how I looked before years of Hogwarts feasts and Weasley mollycoddling.

Perhaps I shouldn't have put all the weight of researching on Hermione. I was so dedicated to making memories with Ron and keeping her plan secret from him and pretending that there was another option that now I don't know what's supposed to be happening and what is abnormal.

“Hello?” I call out, seeing no one in the lobby.

“Hello? Oh, hi there. Can I help you?” a tall woman asks.

“I’m Harry. I don’t have any-” what should I say? How do I explain that I must be here simply to spy on or to become the close friend and confidante of a soulless murderer? That I am either to avenge my parents death, and Dumbledore’s and countless others, or I am to live out my life at the side of Voldemort- Tom Riddle?

“I don’t have anywhere else to go,” I admit quietly. Not a lie.

“Oh, my! Poor dear! Come with me, I’ll help you get dry,” she coos.

I follow her quietly. Now what? Do I follow him around here or wait for Hogwarts? Will I get a Hogwarts letter, considering I don’t exist yet?

“Here are some towels and some new clothes for you, dear,” she says, “Just stay in here with Tom and I’ll come back later to talk to you, okay?”

I say nothing. She frowns slightly. 

"I'm sorry about putting you in here. He's, well, he's not the friendliest of children. More of a menace than anything. We don't have the money or the space for you to go anywhere else," her eyes mist over as she she says this.

I nod and rub the towel over my head. She quietly shuts the door. Easier than I thought, I guess. Being in his room, his bed- thay is so much closer than I expected. So much closer than im comfortable with or prepared for. I dont even know if the thints i learned before will work here. Have the spells been invented? He can do dangerous things without a wand and I no longer have access to one.

And I'll have to be unconscious in his presence. I'll have to do that for years and years. I wonder if there's a way to occlude in my sleep?

I really should have helped Hermione look this up.

“Whatever are you doing in my room?” Vol-Tom says when he walks in the door.

“Hi.. er.. I’m Harry and I live here too,” I say.

I sound so meek. Almost like I'm afraid of him. It’s disgusting, and yet I’m… nervous? Tom scowls at me and goes towards his- our, I shudder- bed.

“Are you going to stand there and get my floor all wet or are you going to towel off?” he asks.  
I pull off my wet shirt and rub the towel across my body. I slowly and methodically take my wet clothes off, drying myself and then putting new clothes on. Tom never takes his eyes off of me. I flush red.

Or perhaps I am afraid. He is still dangerous. 

“You’re Tom, right?” I ask, even though I know.

“Yes,” he says.

We stare at each other for awhile. Not nervous, I think, maybe just uneasy. Rightfully so. I should never underestimate him.

“Er, how old are you?” I ask.

“I’m eleven,” he says with boredom.

“Do you go to school?” I ask.

“The orphanage has tutors for us,” he says.

He’s definitely annoyed now, but I feel the need to be persistent. I smile. Wonderful, Dumbledore hasn’t come to see him yet, or if he has, term hasn’t started.

The front desk lady comes through the door.

“Hello?” she calls.

“Hello,” I say.

“Oh, good, I just wanted to ask you a few questions. How old are you, dear? What is your name?” she asks.

“Harry Potter,” I say with a small glance at Tom. He’s unaffected and looks bored. It feels weird to say my name and get no reaction. No shrieks of joy, no anger, just acceptance.

“I’m eleven,” I say. I hope that I’m eleven, or else it will look badly when I don’t get invited to Hogwarts. He’ll think I’m a Muggle.

Will I be invited to Hogwarts?

I’m surprised that I can be in a room with him and feel nothing. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t done anything yet, or maybe I don’t truly hate him. I don’t hate anyone, really.

“Okay, Harry, where are your parents?” she asks.

“I don’t know,” I say.

It isn’t really a lie since I don’t know where they live. They shouldn't have been born yet. Although, Hermione warned me that this was dangerous. I'd be lucky if their displacement in time was the worst to happen.

Honestly, her idea of safe. 

“What are their names?” she asks.

“I don’t know their real names. I haven’t seen them for years and years,” I say.

She looks alarmed. Just a little lie so that she never finds out that I don’t exist, that I have a ‘home’ and don’t belong in an orphanage, and especially that I have come from the future to change the past.

"Tom, you'll have to share the bed. Hopefully your demonic disposition can handle such a simple task," she says.

She smiles at me one last time and then leaves the room looking troubled.

“I don’t have friends, so don’t expect me to like you,” Tom says.

I almost feel bad for him. Almost. It'll be good to have a genuine emotion to work from, and pity is as useful as any.

“I could be your friend, and you don’t even have to like me,” I say.

“Whatever,” he says.

 

 


End file.
